I played last Friday and Saturday - Friday over by Nordstrom's, but a different corner than I usually use, and Saturday at my usual spot outside the Farmer's Market. All in all, they were two good days. Definitely better than usual, as far as take (and as far as how friendly people were), but not setting any new records. Good, solid, encouraging days.

Friday I decided to try a different corner just to shake things up a little. As I walked across Pioneer Square, I picked up a free sample bottle of some new Coca Cola drink. This ended up being my breakfast - except that it was diet, so I really didn't get anything out of it. I need to start making it a habit to eat something before I leave the house... I'm not all that hungry in the mornings, but it's still a good thing to do, to try and start the morning off right. As they say.

I met a lot of really interesting people on Friday. By met I mean ran into and chatted with, but that's the same thing as far as I'm concerned. The traffic was pretty heavy along where I was playing. I don't know if it was the street or just some fluke of the day, but I ended up getting a bunch of audience in total - probably more than usual. And it was a chatty bunch, too. Got a few conversations going, and I'm just getting to the point where I can almost pretend to talk and play at the same time. Right now I'm limited to "thank you" and "have a nice day" while I'm playing, and even that's sketchy, but as long as I'm not playing something too complex, I can occasionally get a few words in edgewise.

One guy was pretty insistent about how I spend the money he gave me:

"All right, brother, here you go. Good playing."

"Well thank you very much!"

"This isn't money for college, though. This is drug money, brother."

Well, right on. Drug money. It turns out that drug money spends just like any other money, so I'm overall just fine with that.

Another guy came along and said he liked my playing because it was very "avant garde." Again, right on. I'm always glad to be appreciated... I wonder how Elgar would feel about being called avant garde, though. Don't know if he'd be turning in his grave or just happy to know that he's still almost relevant. To digress a little bit: I don't like Elgar very much. I think that a lot of what he wrote represents the parts of traditional "classical" type instrumental music that people love to hate. If I'm wrong here, please steer me right. I just don't really like most of his work. This doesn't stop me from playing his Salut d'Amour, because it's easy and sappy and people like it. I think that somehow it's the kind of thing they expect. I don't know, really. My point is that Elgar isn't my favorite composer. Anyways. Back to the guy. I stop playing and thank him, start chatting with him. He looks kinda ratty; looks like he's probably been out on the street for a little while. And then I see his harmonica. It's a slightly dingy, slightly dented thing peeking out of his bag. I motion to it: "you play?" And yeah, he does. He actually plays pretty well. And we start jamming, him playing old shaker tunes, me trying to follow along behind without losing track of where he's going. This was the first time I've had someone just start playing, out on the street, trusting that I'll join in and do it justice. I really hope I was able to pull it off. It sounded alright, I think. And that was enough.

Saturday started off real well. As soon as I took out my violin, someone gave me a dollar. This is before I started playing, before I put in any seed money. She gave it to me with an apologetic smile - "I wanted to give you a whole dollar last time." I just smiled back and thanked her. I wish I could have remembered her, recognized her, but I just see so many people.

It was pretty uneventful after that, until a guy walked up to me, holding his cellphone out at me. I stop playing to see what he wants.

"Hey, would you play some stuff over the phone for my friend? She's a musician, and I want her to hear you."

"Oh, um, sure. Yeah, no problem."

"Great! Also, can you answer some questions while you play?"

"I'll try, yeah."

"Okay, cool!"

He flips the phone and dials, motioning for me to start playing. I work through some jazzy stuff that I know I can keep doing even if I'm distracted without much problem - also gives me plenty of room to work if I decide to get fancy. And I do. He keeps talking to me as the phone rings.

"Yeah, she just got a violin, and - hey, Jen? I got someone over here for you. Hey kid, how old are you?"

I manage to mumble something that sounds like 18 in the direction of the phone.

"Ha, 18. How long you been playing?"

I do my best to try to tell him, and most of the words get out, but it isn't pretty.

"Okay, one more question: would you be willing to date a 33-year-old woman?"

I put a few flourishes in and get a little fancy. Did he just say what I think he said?

"Heh, no, probably not. And I'm leaving town soon in any case, yeah?"

I think that one got out pretty clear. The dude just laughs.

"Well, it was worth a try. Bye now."

He hangs up the phone and gives me a tip. Gotta love customers.

Tomorrow: I'm going to try the corner of Nordstrom's that I used on Friday.